A number of known cutting devices include a driven cutting or abrading member such as, for example, a cylindrical blade, that is bordered on either side by a generally planar workpiece support surface. In such devices, a workpiece is advanced along the infeed table portion of the support surface toward the driven cutting member. The workpiece passes over the cutting member, where a portion of the workpiece (the stock) is removed therefrom, and onto the outfeed table portion of the support surface. A familiar example of such a device is a woodworking jointer, in which the cutting member includes a rotating cylinder having one or more elongate blades disposed along the length thereof so that a cutting surface of each blade is exposed and may contact a workpiece. The cutting member is rotationally mounted at a fixed height relative to a base in a recess between the infeed and outfeed tables.
In order to accurately remove the desired amount of stock from the workpiece, the position of the infeed table must be adjusted with some precision to a desired height relative to the cutting member. A variety of infeed table positioning devices are known to accomplish this task. However, these devices generally require that the operator of the jointer manipulate a variety of separate adjustment and locking components in order to adjust and lock the height of the infeed table. In particular, the operator must separately unlock, adjust, and re-lock the infeed table. Unlocking the infeed table so that its height may be freely adjusted is accomplished by, for example, unscrewing a threaded connector that frictionally fixes the height of the infeed table. Repositioning the height of the infeed table is accomplished by, for example, manually urging the infeed table up or down an inclined plane on a set of rails relative to the cutting member and the outfeed table. Finally, re-locking the infeed table is accomplished by, for example, tightening the threaded connector mentioned above. The locking mechanism may be located on a side of the jointer that requires the operator to change his or her position to manipulate the locking mechanism, further complicating the adjustment process.
It will be appreciated that, although such apparatuses described in general above may be used to successfully adjust the height of the infeed table relative to the cutting member, the number of individual operations that must be performed and the complexity of each of these operations does not lend itself to the quick and accurate adjustment of the infeed table. In particular, when it is necessary to perform a number of jobs in succession that require the infeed table to be adjusted to a variety of heights, the loosening, repositioning, and tightening procedure required to adjust the table may need to be repeated a number of times. Therefore, it is desirable to reduce the time, complexity, and number of steps that are required to reposition the infeed table of the jointer while allowing an accurate positioning of the height at which the infeed table is positioned.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a mechanism by which the height of the infeed table of a jointer may be quickly and easily repositioned relative to other elements of the jointer to allow for rapid and precise adjustment and locking of the height of the infeed table relative to the cutting member. More broadly, there exists a need for an improved adjustment mechanism for adjusting and locking a position of a first surface of a woodworking, metal working, or other device relative to one or more other elements of the device.